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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Common question that I've been getting more and more frequently, this time from a portfolio ambassador:

Q: Hey, Anthony! Can you explain to me Tequila as a stimulant versus as a depressant?

A: Tequila is not a stimulant -- this is a popular rumor, but it has no basis in fact. The active ingredient in Tequila (as in all spirits) is ethanol, which is a central nervous system depressant. The stimulant idea probably comes from a confusing of the words mezcal (which is the larger maguey-based spirit family of which Tequila is one type) and mescaline, so many people think Tequila contains mescaline which it absolutely does not. Even if it did, mescaline is primarily a hallucinogenic drug (though it does have some properties of a stimulant), so we're actually looking at a double-confusion to arrive at the Tequila-as-a-stimulant rumor.